Regulative Principles

Following a birth or death there is a period of contamination for the relatives of the person born or deceased, the length of which depends upon the closeness of the relation, caste and age of the decesased. Wtih the decease or birth of a close relative a brahmana has ten days of asauca, a kshatriya twelve days, a vaishya fifteen days and a sudra thirty days. If the relation is distant the brahmana will have three days asaucam. If a child of brahmana dies within ten days of birth, impurity is observed for ten days after the birth by the father and mother only. If the child dies within two years, asauca is one day. If the child dies before six years and three months, the asauca is three days for close relatives. During the period of contamination one should not study scripture, or perform homa, Deity worship, tarpana, entertain ... Read More »

Close the eyes (I’s) of Kaliyuga (Compiled from notes on lectures of H. H. Mahavishnu Goswami) The following is an excerpt from the lecture given by our Guru Maharaja H.H. Mahavishnu Goswami on 16.12.2006 on Srimad Bhagavatam 11.7.5 at Sri Sri Radha-NeelMadhav Dham, Rajkot. na vastavyam tvayaiveha mayaa tyakte mahi-tale jano ‘bhadra-rucir bhadra bhavisyati kalau yuge “My dear Uddhava, you should not remain here on the earth once I have abandoned this world. My dear devotee, you are sinless, but in Kali yuga the people will be addicted to all types of sinful activities; therefore do not stay here.” Gurudeva explained, “Because we are in the age of Kali we are deteriorating day by day. Our food, our behaviour, our culture are all affected due to material things and material activities. It is not that we are to be blamed only for engaging more and more in such non-sensical activities ... Read More »

Initiation Promises (Compiled from notes on lectures of H. H. Mahavishnu Goswami) On the day of our spiritual initiation we mainly promise to chant minimum 16 rounds of the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra and to follow the four regulative principles. On every occasion of giving initiation, our beloved Guru Maharaja gives a wonderful explanation of the meaning of initiation and it is really a treat to hear these initiation lectures and to treasure them in our hearts. I was recently listening to the initiation lecture of our beloved Guru Maharaja in Singapore (September 2008) and Maharaja gave the list of the promises we are making and the conclusions we are arriving at by taking the spiritual initiation. This is a subject matter we have to seriously ponder over, not only for the newly initiated but also for those who have been initiated for long, to really get initiated every day ... Read More »